Deadly Ice Storm Treks from Texas to Arkansas & Tennessee
The final bout of freezing rain and sleet from a significant ice storm will contribute to more dangerous travel, power outages and tree damage from Texas to Arkansas and Tennessee through Thursday.
Wintry precipitation from the final wave of moisture associated with Mara is spreading across Texas into parts of Arkansas. Ice accumulations over one-quarter inch are now common across central Texas, including the Austin metro area, and sleet and freezing rain has returned to the Dallas-Ft. Worth metro area, where roads were already icy from earlier rounds of the storm.
More than 260,000 homes and businesses had lost electricity statewide as of Wednesday morning, according to poweroutage.us. Ice storm warnings and winter storm warnings are in effect from western, central, and northern Texas to southeast Oklahoma, much of Arkansas, northwest Mississippi and western Tennessee. That also includes Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Little Rock and Memphis.
Icing in these areas could be heavy enough to cause tree damage and knock out power and will make most roads hazardous. There is a high chance of additional ice accumulating at least 0.10 inch thick through Thursday from western, central and northern Texas into southern Oklahoma and parts of Arkansas.
Those ice accumulations will only add to ice already clinging to various surfaces like tree limbs, power lines and cars. Roads in these areas are already icy, and some not yet icy may become slick. Much of that icing is associated with the final wave of wintry precipitation from Mara that will spread across these areas through Wednesday night.
Patchy lingering freezing rain is still possible early Thursday from northern Texas and southern Oklahoma to Arkansas and western Tennessee before precipitation is pushed farther south into above-freezing air late Thursday.
We recognize the severe impact that current conditions are having on our customers, and we are committed to restoring service levels as quickly as possible. As a result of these weather issues, the ALG Client Service Team will send daily updates as we monitor the progress and track job level impact.